A Sensor-Based Data Acquisition System for Soil Parameters to Determine Suitable Crops

Soil parameters monitoring is significant in sustainable crop and food production. The standard strategy of soil parameters monitoring in developing and underdeveloped nations uses manual labor, resulting in wrong decisions in soil management. Inaccurate measurements due to sensor miscalibration or low sensor quality can lead to incorrect soil management decisions and negatively impact crop yield and environmental sustainability. Due to the mentioned challenges, this work aims to develop a Sensor-based Data Acquisition System for Soil Parameters that will enable users to observe various soil parameters like temperature, humidity, water level and soil pH. The system was developed using the combination of hardware and software components. The hardware component comprises of sensory and processing parts. The study calibrates sensors using known pH, moisture, and temperature values for specific crops to grow in Nigeria. The system will aid farmers in determining suitable crops for their farmland and increasing crop yield. The system collects data through a network of sensors installed in the soil and wirelessly transmits the data to a cloud-based server. The collected data is then analyzed and visualized in through a web-based dashboard, providing farmers with information about the state of their soil. The performance evaluation of the system was carried out using response time and accuracy. The average response time of the system was 4 seconds, and the percentage error for temperature and humidity readings when compared to weather forecast readings were 8.20% and 5.08%, respectively. The results show that the proposed system can provide accurate and reliable measurements of soil parameters and can be easily deployed and operated by small-scale farmers. Using this system can result in improved crop yields, reduced wastage, and better overall efficiency in agricultural operations